Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city. Oh, […]

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Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.

Oh, Nikita. Here we are again, hosting your slick, blow-em-up adventures that take you to just about every hot spot on the planet as you dress up our fair city as often and as creatively as a kid with a new doll. The GTA plays Hong Kong, Kosovo, and just about everywhere in between this time around.

As always, the locations come pretty fast and furious in Nikita. The season premiere finds us in Hong Kong, though this handsome interior is actually the foyer of Hamilton’s beautifully modernist City Hall. Amusingly, the building’s exterior was used as a Turkish location in the second season.

The final episode of the first half finds us in front of this “federal building”…

…actually the Rosewater Supper Club…

…which, like our Hong Kong street earlier, is within view of the King Eddie…

…and good for a kaboom or two.

Some action for the intelligence community as we park outside Washington’s FBI headquarters, on Front Street…

…and go inside CIA Headquarters…

…which is actually a building that’s played it in more movies than we can count—the province’s Mowat Block, across from Queen’s Park.

At this point, two-and-a-half seasons in, you wouldn’t be wrong to wonder if Nikita has visited every city on the planet except the one in which the series is actually filmed. Could that actually happen when we get to the back half of Season 3? Tune in next time, and find out!

]]>http://torontoist.com/2014/10/reel-toronto-nikita-season-3-part-one/feed/1Reel Toronto: Triple Flashback Special!http://torontoist.com/2009/08/reel_toronto_triple_flashback_special/
http://torontoist.com/2009/08/reel_toronto_triple_flashback_special/#commentsTue, 11 Aug 2009 14:15:00 +0000http://torontoist.com/2009/08/reel_toronto_triple_flashback_special/Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city. Though […]]]>

Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.
Though film shoots in our city have really taken off in the last fifteen or twenty years, they did make movies up here before we gained any kind of rep as “Hollywood North.” It’s fun to watch some of them old movies at least partially because they’re better, on average, than a lot of what’s made nowadays. On the other hand, they present more of a challenge for us here at Reel Toronto.
Take these three fine movies, for instance: Silver Streak (1976), Sea of Love (1989), and Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993). Unless you have a keen eye, it’s pretty unlikely you’ll notice any of these were even shot north of the border. Because of how long ago they were done, records are lost, locations are gone or seriously altered, and, overall, it’s a real uphill battle.

Going in reverse chronological order, Searching for Bobby Fischer—starring Ben Kingsley, Joe Mantegna, and Laurence Fishburne—is a darned wonderful little film (and a true story, to boot) about a chess prodigy. The story primarily takes place in New York, but there are a lot of interior scenes set in various schools, gyms, and other virtually indistinguishable locales.
The final chess tournament was filmed at U of T’s Trinity College. That was relatively easy to spot.
Other school-type scenes were shot at St. Veronica’s School, Upper Canada College, the extinct Victoria Royce Presbyterian Church, and Ryerson’s Willard Hall (now Covenant House).
Joe Mantegna’s job is working for a newspaper, so they grabbed some scenes at both the Star and Sun newsrooms.
Outdoor scenes are even trickier to spot, with some done in High Park and Grange Park. This, at least, is a recognizable landmark: the King Eddie.Sea of Love is a pretty cool thriller from the era between when Pacino was doing classic films and when he started shouting “Hoo-ah!” and stuff. It also takes place in New York, and they did shoot a good bit there, but there’s some 416 going on too.
Take this early scene, where the cops invite a bunch of deadbeat criminals on outstanding warrants to what’s ostensibly a Yankees breakfast. It might look like any ol’ bingo hall, but if you look close you can tell it’s actually the Masonic Temple/Concert Hall/Mike Bullard studio/MTV Canada headquarters.
The film opens with a montage of seedy New York shots, but they weren’t all done there. This porn shack is actually the Metro Theatre on Bloor West (the triangular marquee is the giveaway.)
It goes by quickly, but this is the former Jerry’s Restaurant, now known as the Lakeview Lunch. (Well, now it’s the new Lakeview Lunch.) Tom Cruise’s awful Cocktail shot there too back in the day.
Here’s Pacino having a drink at the Horseshoe Tavern’s front bar.
Then there’s a long list of long-gone locations. This one is probably the Matco Supermarket (and, yes, that’s John Goodman). Where was Matco? You tell us! Also gone the way of the dodo: Crooks Restaurant and the old 53 Division.
The new 53 Division is that brown building beside Eglinton Station, but we suspect it’s the station interiors that were shot in the original building.
This fancy shmancy dinner appears to have been grabbed at Sutton Place.
Finally, Silver Streak. There was a time, folks, when Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor ruled the box office because, like, they were crazy funny. Even funnier than the Wayans Brothers, believe it or not.
This flick, basically a fun chase set largely on a train, was directed by homeboy Arthur Hiller, who went on to head the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Of course, even if you’re mostly on a train, you have to get off every now and then, right?
Accordingly, Union Station gets some celluloid love during the finale, with shots of the Great Hall…
…the train blazing past the Royal York…
…and the sheds…
…and giving a grand kick-off to the long-awaited renovations. The final credits roll over this beauty.
The station is actually doing double duty, playing train stations in both Chicago and Kansas City. Most of the shots of the train allegedly travelling that stretch were actually done on CP’s lines around here and in Alberta. Despite the rail line being called “Amroad” (Amtrak wasn’t thrilled about stuff like trains crashing into stations…), you can tell they are painted-over CP trains.
This is rarity for Reel Toronto. Not only are all three movies done with sufficient skill that Toronto doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb, they’re all, gulp, good! It’s enough to bring a tear to our cynical, snarky eye.

]]>http://torontoist.com/2009/08/reel_toronto_triple_flashback_special/feed/5Reel Toronto: Adventures in Babysittinghttp://torontoist.com/2008/05/reel_toronto_adventures_in_babysitting/
http://torontoist.com/2008/05/reel_toronto_adventures_in_babysitting/#commentsTue, 20 May 2008 16:00:27 +0000http://torontoist.com/2008/05/reel_toronto_adventures_in_babysitting/Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city. Don’t […]]]>

Toronto’s extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city.Don’t make fun. It’s a defining moment in 80s cinema.
Not since Good Will Hunting have we seen a film shot in Toronto do as good a job at disguising the city as the classic Adventures in Babysitting.
The former film took place in Boston while the latter is in Chicago, and a combination of good establishing shots and some actual location shooting are almost enough to disguise our fair city’s acting as the Windy City. Almost.

As in The Sound of Music, a good song can save you from even the worst of fates…
If you are a lady “of a certain age,” you love Adventures in Babysitting. You dance in your underwear when you hear “And Then He Kissed Me,” you can sing The Babysitter Blues, and you can crack your friends up simply by saying, “Don’t fuck with the babysitter!”
If you are a male of a certain age, however, you mostly remember that one of the film’s subplots involves future Oscar nominee Elisabeth Shue looking an awful lot like a Playboy centerfold. Here at Reel Toronto, we care little about such things. Like real estate agents, it’s all about location, location, location.
Take the famed Babysitter Blues sequence, for example. Some people might be too enthralled by the comedy at hand or the presence of Albert Collins to notice that it’s not taking place in any, old, scuzzy Chicago blues joint. Hell, no—it’s our own scuzzy blues joint, The Silver Dollar. Fans of ’80s cinema (and loyal readers) might also recognize it as The Blue Oyster bar from Police Academy.Just another night on Elizabeth Street…
As for the plot, it’s standard fare. It’s kinda like Die Hard with kids, in that the babysitter just wants to do her job but all these bad, bad things keep happening. For starters, Chris, the babysitter, is waiting to go on a date when her boyfriend calls in sick, freeing her up to babysit, you see.
One of the key subplots is that she is supposed to pick up her friend (played by a pre-quasi-fame Penelope Ann Miller) at the local bus station. A nice location shot like this one is almost enough to disguise the fact that the scenes were filmed at our own terminal at Bay and Dundas.“The Little Blue”? Is that supposed to sound like a nice joint?
Eventually, Chris finds out that the boy with whom she is so much in love is actually dating some other chick and, rather than being sick, is having dinner with her at a hoity-toity restaurant. The smarmy boyfriend is played by The West Wing‘s Bradley Whitford (apparently immune to aging ). Anyway, the kids start a fuss, get kicked out of the restaurant, and end up on Wellesley Street, outside the Sutton Place (today the eatery is called Accents).
We don’t know that this scene was actually shot in Toronto, but there was no way to avoid posting a screencap. See, the girl in the movie is obsessed with the comic book character Thor, and she thinks she meets him when the group ends up at a local mechanic’s shop. Having not seen the movie in a loooong time, we were stunned to realize that “Thor” is played by a pre-fame, pre–Private Pyle, lean, mean Vincent D’Onofrio. To quote famous Torontonian Will Hunting, “How do you like them apples?”
Maybe you’ve heard the legends of how American films would have to toss garbage around when filming here to make us look like an American city. Well, AiB (as we call it) seems to be the source of all that, having strewn garbage in an alley only to find it gone when it came time to shoot.
We know some hospital scenes were shot at Toronto General and Toronto Western, but overall, you have to keep your eyes open to spot Toronto here—so kudos to the crew.

Snow globes, ice sculptures, and an ice bar…sound like an arctic paradise? Even if you’re sick of slipping on the white (and sometimes yellow) stuff, you’re still invited to Bloor-Yorkville’s IceFest Festival this weekend—and you don’t even have to get your feet wet!
IceFest ent-ice-s with enough of the cold stuff to carve out a ship—and that’s 25,000 pounds! By donating five bucks to the Heart & Stroke Foundation, you buy yourself a pose by the giant vessel in the Underwater Kingdom of Ice, which also features King Neptune and a “lovely mermaid” (not endorsed by Disney). If your pockets are empty, it’s free to watch the ice carvers pick, chisel, and chainsaw their creations in Saturday’s competition, and feel free to support your favourite in the running for the People’s Choice Award. Prize packages will be awarded to a few lucky voters.
But if ice sculptures give you the chills, spring for some chilled ice wine at the Sant&#233 lounge and Ice Bar, as a preview for their upcoming International Wine Festival this May.
The festivities kick off this Thursday with IceNite, a mingler in the top-floor ballroom of Yorkville’s Sutton Place Hotel, with tickets on sale for a cool ten bones. It showcases a “Yorkville Chic” silent auction, with proceeds going to the Yonge-Bay-Bloor Business Association.
If you’d rather make your Yorkville purchases the old-fashioned way, IceFest encourages you to shop, and support the Heart & Stroke Foundation with your generous purchases [retail map PDF]. And with such a good cause, you’d feel guilty not to spend generously. After all, the event is sponsored by Holt Renfrew.Photo by preciouskhyatt.

]]>http://torontoist.com/2008/02/ice-infested/feed/1Campaign Confidential: Debateshttp://torontoist.com/2008/02/campaign_confid_7/
http://torontoist.com/2008/02/campaign_confid_7/#commentsTue, 19 Feb 2008 19:00:33 +0000http://torontoist.com/2008/02/campaign_confid_7/Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a behind the scenes glimpse into what it’s like to be that mysterious Other: a politician. Last night was our first public all-candidates debate in this campaign. Hosted by the Bay Corridor Community Association […]]]>

Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a behind the scenes glimpse into what it’s like to be that mysterious Other: a politician.Last night was our first public all-candidates debate in this campaign. Hosted by the Bay Corridor Community Association in the Sutton Place Hotel, it was extremely well attended by an engaged audience. For those of us who recognize that interest and turnout in by-election campaigns is often quite lower than in general elections, this was a very encouraging and welcome sign.
The format is similar from debate to debate, and almost always involves opening statements, questions (from the floor, or the organizers, or both), and closing statements. Each candidate rarely gets more than one or two minutes to speak at a time. That’s positive in the sense that it forces us to be concise and allows for many questions to be asked, but it also tends to produce somewhat shallow “soundbite” answers.
Last night was truly an “all-candidates” debate, in that all of the registered candidates were invited and participated. In addition to the four major party candidates (El-Farouk Khaki for the NDP, Bob Rae for the Liberals, Don Meredith for the Conservatives, and myself, Chris Tindal, for the Greens), Liz White of the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada participated. According to Wikipedia, we can also expect a Canadian Action Party candidate (who came by our office to say hi a few days ago) and a Neorhino.ca candidate, which should be fun.
One of the things that really struck me about our debates in the last election (there were about 12 of them) was how some candidates would play out the exact same script over and over again. As in, Michael Shapcott would say “Bill Graham never did X and did far too much of Y,” and then Bill Graham would respond by saying “Michael knows darn well that I did lots of X and almost no Y!” And then the next night they’d play out exactly the same exchange as if it had never happened before. This type of scenario seems to unfold when one candidate repeatedly says something that isn’t true (or, at the least, that another candidate doesn’t agree is true), forcing the other candidate to repeatedly correct (or refute) them in the same way.
If you missed last night and want in on this action (in my geeky opinion, the debates can be both informative and entertaining), there are a few more debates coming up over the next few weeks:

]]>http://torontoist.com/2008/02/campaign_confid_7/feed/12Vintage Toronto Ads: Your Festival of Festivalshttp://torontoist.com/2007/09/vintage_toronto_30/
http://torontoist.com/2007/09/vintage_toronto_30/#commentsTue, 04 Sep 2007 18:30:15 +0000http://torontoist.com/2007/09/vintage_toronto_30/With this year’s Toronto International Film Festival kicking into high gear, it seems appropriate to look back to the advertising for its tenth edition, back in the days when it was known as the Festival of Festivals. Besides today’s ad, Toronto Life also featured an article on the festival, highlighting its first decade and offering […]]]>

With this year’s Toronto International Film Festival kicking into high gear, it seems appropriate to look back to the advertising for its tenth edition, back in the days when it was known as the Festival of Festivals.
Besides today’s ad, Toronto Life also featured an article on the festival, highlighting its first decade and offering a preview of that year’s fare. The “Tribute to” event was scratched for 1985, after the debacle surrounding the previous year’s salute to Warren Beatty (cost overruns due to a switch in hotels from the Sutton Place to the Four Seasons and footing the bill to jet Jack Nicholson in, plus Beatty’s decision to sit in the audience for most of the night instead of onstage with Siskel and Ebert). New features included a series of pre-festival free screenings in High Park and Open Vault, a series of restored silent films with live musical accompaniment.
The magazine also offered their picks and pans:
What to See: Joshua Then and Now (the opening night gala), La Historia Oficial, The Devil’s Playground, Colonel Redl, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Funeral and a restored version of Way Down East.
What to Avoid: Dim Sum (“You can tell it’s authentic because people talk very slowly and never say anything very interesting”) and Mishima (“More a graduate seminar than a movie”).Source: Toronto Life, September 1985

Not everyone’s December 25th consists of bulging stockings hanging from a mantel, unwrapping presents in the reflection of Christmas tree ornaments, and a grandmother in her pearls and green and red apron carving a turkey at the family dinner. For those not living in a movie, who are boycotting the holidays, or who forgot about Santa’s birthday, Torontoist has the guide to an alternative Christmas.Those Charity Drives Were for a Reason
Remember the Bratz doll you donated to Toy Mountain last week? It’s probably too late for you to have the volunteer opportunity of actually handing it to a child on Christmas morning. But the North York Harvest, Daily Bread, and Fort York food banks may still be looking for last minute help.
In the spirit of small acts of kindness, bake something with the magic of Pilsbury, tie a ribbon around it, and personally deliver it to someone who may be alone today- a single parent, an international student away from home, or a husband or wife whose spouse is in Afghanistan. Or you can spread Yuletide cheer by standing on the street in your elf costume, handing out candy canes to passersby. People do take candy from strangers. Trust us.When Dinner BurnsIt happens. See if you can secure a last-minute reservation and $59 per adult for the Sutton Place Hotel Christmas supper tonight. The feast consists of a four course meal (pickled honey mushrooms, anyone?) and free parking. The brunch at the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel’s Senses Cafe is a little less expensive, at $45 a person. The bakery is open until 5 p.m.
If you’re sick of tryptophan-laden poultry and Santa didn’t leave cash in your stocking this year, the Beaver Café at 1192 Queen St.West is serving brunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.-ish and drinks when it reopens at night. The Corner Café at the Drake Hotel is also open for light nibbles also from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. In the mood for all-you-can-eat pancakes? Go to the Golden Griddle in Leaside. Better yet, Fran’s is open 24/7/365. Or opt for the traditional Jewish Christmas meal — dim sum! Toronto Life guarantees these Chinese eateries will be open today.Movies at the Cinema (or on YouTube)
Opening today in Toronto are Dreamgirls at practically every movie theatre in the city for some unfathomable reason, deliciously wicked Notes on a Scandal, and Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men. The SF thriller has a loose connection to the immaculate conception (movie involves a precious pregnant woman who may help save the human race with her reproductive power), so it’s somewhat Christmasy. If your thoughts today are running more along the lines of “die, Christmas, die”, then you might want to catch the premiere of Black Christmas instead.
Then again, why leave the comfort of your flannel PJs and hot chocolate on Christmas morning when you have the internet at your fingertips? Watch A Charlie Brown Christmas or see how long you can stand the Christmas song by Hampton and the Hampsters before your floor is covered with the smashed ceramic of your mug. If CityTV’s LOG isn’t doing it for you, watch the version brought to you by Torontoist and YouTube (best viewed full screen). Flannel PJs + hot chocolate + LCD fireplace = holiday happiness.‘Tis the Season of Self-Indulgence
Consumer culture claims ’tis the season of receiving first and giving second, so be selfish and treat yourself to a day of recreation and relaxation. After sleeping in past noon, dig out your ice skates. The Nathan Phillips Square rink, the Harbourfront rink, and Ryerson University’s Lake Devo are available for ice skating, among other outdoor rinks.
Finish the day with your own walking tour of the Cavalcade of Lights. Use the twenty bucks you saved from not taking a bus tour for drinks at Orphan’s Christmas at the Bovine Sex Club or at Level’s Christmas party.Pacific Mall in Markham opens at 11 a.m., in case you woke up this morning and realized you didn’t get your cat a present. Though it can’t take you to Markham,. [Thanks to reader Dog Bone, who informed us that you can in fact get to the Pacific Mall via the TTC: take either the 43 bus from Kennedy Station or the 53 from Finch Station up to Steeles Avenue. — Ed.] A reminder that the TTC is operating on its Sunday schedule. Torontoist wishes our readers a happy Christmas and a merry Boxing Day!

]]>http://torontoist.com/2006/12/christmas_toron/feed/2NDP Takes By-Election, New Buses Have Bad Seats, Hotel Gets Fined For Penn’s Pufferyhttp://torontoist.com/2006/09/ndp_takes_byele/
http://torontoist.com/2006/09/ndp_takes_byele/#commentsFri, 15 Sep 2006 14:52:27 +0000http://torontoist.com/2006/09/ndp_takes_byele/United Church Minister Cheri DiNovo and the NDP have taken Parkdale-High Park away from Sylvia Watson and the Liberals. The NDP won the riding with 41% of the vote, despite the Liberals summoning 11 cabinet ministers and high profile members like Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy to campaign with former city councillor Sylvia Watson. 20,000 […]]]>

United Church Minister Cheri DiNovo and the NDP have taken Parkdale-High Park away from Sylvia Watson and the Liberals. The NDP won the riding with 41% of the vote, despite the Liberals summoning 11 cabinet ministers and high profile members like Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy to campaign with former city councillor Sylvia Watson.
20,000 or so names are going to be taken off the city’s voting list because the city has been unable to confirm whether they’re eligible to vote. Don’t worry – you should still be able to vote if you have proper ID.Howard Moscoe has pointed out that many of the seats on the TTC’s newer buses are uncomfortable for anyone long-limbed or large-boned. Staff admits that they made mistakes when designing the seating layout and are working on a fix.
The TTC is starting a campaign to crack down on fake metropasses. They’ve already laid 200 charges on 120 individuals who have bought, sold or made fakes.
A woman was killed by a truck tire while driving on the QEW. Two tires from a truck came off, and one hit the woman’s car, causing her to lose control.
Six kids in Scarborough were involved in a hit-and-run. The apparently unlicensed driver fled the scene but was later arrested.
Finally, the Sutton Place Hotel has to fork over $240 as a fine for Sean Penn’s smoking. The actor is also apparently receiving a letter from the city’s Medical Officer of Health.